Ryan Lake

Despite numerous accolades and a leading role at Societal CDMO, Ryan D. Lake is anything but complacent.

“Great leaders never become complacent, never stop learning and are driven to be good humans,” the chief financial officer said.

“Leadership is a continuous learning journey, with lessons taught by those that surround you — both good and bad.”

Societal CDMO is a pharmaceutical company with facilities totaling 145,000 square feet in Gainesville, Georgia, and San Diego, California.

Lake was a leading contributor to the strategy and execution related to the spinout of the company’s drug development business. He played a leading role in the company’s 2021 acquisition of IriSys, a San Diegobased contract development and manufacturing organization. The acquisition transformed Societal CDMO into a bicoastal, full-service CDMO. Lake also spearheaded the capital financing strategy to raise more than $200 million for Societal.

Societal CDMO recently rebranded with a new name and tagline: Bringing Science to Society. “It captures not only where we find ourselves as a company today, but it reflects our inspiration for future growth as an organization,” the company said. “This vision entails significantly expanding visibility for the company and its services, continued strengthening of the corporate leadership team, ongoing expansion and enhancement of its CDMO service offerings, further building of its employee base, strategic diversification of its customer portfolio and the ongoing strengthening of its balance sheet.”

Lake has set goals for the company in the next five years that include growing the Societal workforce by 50% to approximately 400 employees and increasing annual revenue by 50%.

“I want to help bring innovative and life-changing drugs, medical devices and treatments to patients faster,” Lake said. “In light of all that is happening around the globe, I think it is particularly important to be passionate about what you do and feel that your contributions are making the world a better place. For me, it is truly exciting to work with purpose-driven teams with the common goal of improving the quality of life for all.”

Lake is a certified public accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant. He is also a professional member of the American Institute of CPAs, Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs, the Association of Bioscience Financial Officers, Institute of Management Accountants, and a Lifetime Honoree Member of Strathmore’s Who’s Who.

Lake was one of only 23 people selected from 24,500 people to participate in the first North American and Latin American DSM Bright Talent Executive Leadership Development Program offered by the Center for Creative Leadership.

Lake graduated with academic honors, earning a Bachelor of Science in accounting from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and is a member of Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences (Pennsylvania Omega Chapter).